03 04AU Daleks In Manhattan
by NewDrWhoFan
Summary: It's "Daleks In Manhattan" with Rose... 10Rose.
1. Old New York

Series 3 AU with Rose! This is a sequel to my stories, "The Girl in the Stalking Spaceship", "Age of Bronze", "Lantern Extinguished", "Gravity Schmavity", "Love and Monsters", "Show Her, Tell Her", "Ghost of a Chance", "Doomsday Averted", "Runaway Bride", "The Smiths and Miss Jones", "The Shakespeare Code", and "Gridlock".

This is not a _complete_ rewrite, but is meant for those who want to re-watch the episode--with Rose.

Thanks much to GSRgirlforever for beta'ing!

Disclaimer: Surprise, surprise, I don't own Doctor Who. Nor do I get anything from writing these stories--except wonderful, constructive reviews! Wink, wink; nudge, nudge ;)

--

Chapter 1, Old New York

The Doctor let Rose and Martha exit the TARDIS ahead of him.

"So, where are we?" Martha asked.

"Don't forget 'when'," Rose told her with a smile.

The Doctor didn't answer directly. "Ah, smell that Atlantic breeze," he said, stepping out of the TARDIS to join them. "Nice and cold. Lovely. Oh, have you met my friend?" he asked the girls, turning himself to look up at the monument behind the ship.

He heard Rose gasp, then Martha exclaimed, "Is that--oh my God!"

"That's the Statue of Liberty!" they said in unison.

"Gateway to the New World," he told them. "'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free'," he quoted.

He smiled at Rose as she took his arm.

"Not a bad make-up detour," Rose told him, as he led her to the edge of the island for a better look at the Manhattan skyline.

"That's so brilliant," Martha said. "I've always wanted to go to New York. I mean, the real New York, not the new, new, new, new, new . . . ."

"I've never been, either," Rose added, excitedly.

"Well, there's the genuine article," he said, indicating the city across the water. "So good, they named it twice. Mind you, it was New Amsterdam originally. Harder to say twice. No wonder it didn't catch on. New Amsterdam, New Amsterdam." To his delight, he'd gotten Rose to laugh.

Yup. He'd finally gotten it right. This was the place. New New York might not have worked out, but somehow, somewhere in Old New York, he knew he'd find the perfect spot for a proposal.

"I wonder what year it is," Martha asked, coming over to join them, "'cause look, the Empire State Buildin's not even finished yet."

The Doctor nodded. "Work in progress," he said. "Still got a couple floors to go. And if I know my history, that makes the date somewhere around—"

"November 1, 1930," Martha cut him off.

"You're getting good at this," he said, rather astonished, until he turned to see her holding a discarded newspaper.

Rose chuckled. "That's the way to do it," she said, approvingly.

"Eighty years ago," Martha said, handing the paper to the Doctor.

He looked it over, holding it up for Rose to read as well. His hearts sank just a bit as he read the lead story about mysterious disappearances. Maybe he should just give up, and take Rose someplace completely deserted to propose.

He sighed quietly when Martha asked, "Where do we go first?"

He showed Martha the headline. "I think our detour just got longer," he said.

"'Hooverville Mystery Deepens'," read Martha aloud.

"And what's Hooverville, exactly?" asked Rose.

--

The Doctor was seated next to Rose in Solomon's tent. The de facto leader of the Hooverville residents had just verified the strange nighttime disappearances that had been reported in the newspaper article.

"Have you been to the police?" Martha asked.

"Yeah, we tried that," said Solomon. "Another deadbeat goes missing, big deal."

"So, the question is," said the Doctor, "who's taking them and what for?"

At that moment, a young man stuck his head inside the tent, announcing, "Solomon, Mr. Diagoras is here."

They all followed Solomon outside to where a man--presumably Mr. Diagoras--was speaking to the small crowd.

"I need men. Volunteers. I got a little work for you and you sure look like you can use the money."

"Yeah. What is the money?" the young man who'd called them out, Frank, the Doctor had learned, asked.

"A dollar a day," was Mr. Diagoras' reply, to the disapproving grumbles of the Hovervillians.

"What's the work?" asked Solomon.

"A little trip down the sewers," answered Mr. Diagoras. "Got a tunnel that collapsed, needs clearing and fixing. Any takers?"

"A dollar a day?" repeated Solomon. "That's slave wage. Men don't always come back up, do they?"

"Accidents happen," Mr. Diagoras said.

"What do you mean?" asked the Doctor. "What sort of accidents?"

Mr. Diagoras ignored him. "You don't need the work? That's fine. Anybody else?"

The Doctor raised his hand.

"Enough with the questions," Mr. Diagoras told him, impatiently.

"Oh, n-n-no, I'm volunteering," clarified the Doctor.

"Sign me up, too," said Rose, cheerily raising her hand. The Doctor smiled at her, grasping her free hand in his own.

He saw Martha look carefully at them both, before raising her own hand. "I'll kill you for this," she murmured at the Doctor. Maybe he should give up promising peaceful "make-up" trips, too, the Doctor thought.

Solomon and Frank volunteered, as well.

--

Rose stepped carefully through the sewers, with the rest of the small group. She was grateful for the low-heeled boots she'd chosen to wear this time; the Doctor's Converses must be soaked through, she thought.

Mr. Diagoras had told them they'd find the collapse after half a mile. So far, Rose couldn't see any signs of any such thing.

"Whoa!" called the Doctor, bringing the group to a halt.

Rose shone her torch on the spot where the Doctor was staring. "What is it?" she asked. A greenish blob of something was lying on the ground, faintly glowing.

"Is it radioactive or somethin'?" asked Martha, as the Doctor crouched down beside it. Rose saw her cover her nose and mouth at the smell. "It's gone off, whatever it is," Martha said.

The Doctor pulled out his glasses, set down his torch, then reached out to pick up the blob.

"And you've got to pick it up," Rose said with a roll of her eyes, hoping against hope that he at least would refrain from licking it.

He sniffed it, instead. "Shine your torch through it," he asked Rose, and she did. "Composite organic matter," he said. "Martha? Medical opinion?"

"It's not human. I know that," she answered.

"No, it's not," the Doctor agreed. "And I'll tell you something else," he said, getting to his feet and looking around at the tunnel. "We must be at least half a mile in, and I don't see any sign of a collapse, do you?" he asked the group at large. "So why did Mr. Diagoras send us down here?"

"So where are we now?" asked Rose. "What's above us?"

"Well," said the Doctor, looking up as though he could see through the overhead tunnel, "we're right underneath Manhattan." He slid the blob into his coat pocket, removed his glasses, then bent to retrieve his torch. "Come on, then," he said, standing and leading the way further into the tunnel.

"We're way beyond half a mile," agreed Solomon after only a few more minutes of walking. "There's no collapse, nothing."

"That Diagoras bloke," said Martha, "was he lyin'?"

"Looks like it," Rose told her.

"So why did he want people to come down here?" asked Frank.

The Doctor looked around at the branching tunnels. "Solomon, I think it's time you took these two back," he said to Rose's surprise, urging Martha and Frank back the way they'd come. "We'll be much quicker on our own."

A squealing echo halted any retreat.

"What the hell was that?" asked Solomon.

"Hello?!" Frank called, loudly. They all tried to shush him.

"What if it's one of the folk gone missing?" he whispered, defiantly. "You'd be scared, half-mad down here on your own."

Rose thought he had a point. She couldn't count the number of turn-offs from this tunnel they'd passed on their way in.

"Do you think they're still alive?" the Doctor asked Frank.

"Heck, we ain't seen no bodies down here. Maybe they just got lost," Frank said.

More squealing from up ahead quelled the debate.

"I know I never heard nobody make a sound like that," said Solomon.

Rose refrained from taking the Doctor's blob-covered hand as they moved towards the sound, shining their torches ahead of them.

"Sounds like there's more than one of 'em," said Frank, quietly.

"This way," said the Doctor, shining his torch down a side tunnel.

"No, that way," said Solomon. He'd illuminated another tunnel, and Rose could just make out a huddled figure on the ground. "Who are you?" Solomon asked.

"Are you lost?" asked Frank. "Can you understand me? I've been thinkin' about folk lost--"

He started to walk towards the figure, but the Doctor moved quickly to stop him.

"It's all right, Frank," he told him. "Just stay back. Let me have a look."

Rose followed close behind the Doctor, despite his warning to Frank, as he himself moved towards the figure.

"He's got a point, though, my mate Frank," the Doctor said, soothingly. "I'd hate to be stuck down here on my own."

The figure squealed.

"We know the way out," offered Rose. "Daylight. If you wanna come with us."

The Doctor squatted down close to the figure, his torch illuminating a face that seemed a blend of a man's and a pig's. "Oh, but what are you?" breathed the Doctor.

"Is, uh, that some kind of carnival mask?" Solomon asked from the tunnel junction.

Rose wished it was.

"No, it's real," said the Doctor. "I'm sorry," he told the pig-man. "Now listen to me. I promise I can help. Now, who did this to you?"

Martha called to them. "Doctor, Rose, I think you'd better get back here."

Rose looked back at her, then further into the tunnel, where Martha was staring. More pig-men were moving their way. "Doctor," Rose said, with a hand on his shoulder.

He finally looked away from the huddled pig-man, and quickly got to his feet. "Actually . . . good point," he said, as he and Rose backed out of the tunnel towards the others.

"They're followin' us," observed Rose, as the pig-men continued to advance.

"Yeah, I noticed that, thanks," the Doctor said, as they reached the others. "Well then, Rose, Martha, Frank, Solomon . . . ."

"What?" asked Martha.

"Um, basically . . . run!" he told them.

Rose took his offered hand, despite the gooiness, and ran with him back through the tunnel.

--

To be continued.


	2. Three Ls and an H

Thanks to everyone who's reviewed; I'm so glad you're liking it! And for those who're worried it's sticking a bit too close to the original, I hope you'll enjoy a bit more altered character interaction/insights . . . .

--

Chapter 2, Three "L"s and an "H"

Rose held tightly to the Doctor's hand as they ran, grateful for the support as she nearly slipped when they rounded a corner.

"Where are we goin'?!" shouted Martha, following close behind.

"This way!" the Doctor answered, leading the group around yet another turn.

Rose could hear the squealing pig-men gaining on them.

The Doctor skidded to a halt at a tunnel junction. "There's a ladder!" he said, pulling Rose towards it.

The Doctor made his way up the ladder first, so he could use the sonic screwdriver on the cover. Once unlocked, he moved quickly up through the opening, reaching back to give Rose a hand up.

Rose emerged into some sort of room, filled with racks and shelves. She didn't take much time to look around, instead turning back to the sewer opening to help Martha through.

Solomon was next, but he seemed to be hesitating. "Frank!" he called over his shoulder, before climbing the rest of the way up the ladder.

Rose backed away towards Martha, allowing Solomon and the Doctor to help Frank up.

He didn't appear immediately. Instead, Solomon was calling to him. "C'mon, Frank! C'mon!"

"I've got ya. C'mon!" said the Doctor, and Rose watched as Frank's arms and head slowly emerged, only to be pulled back out of sight into the sewer.

"Frank!" Solomon called after him.

"No!" The Doctor shouted at the same time.

Before Rose could ask what was going on, Solomon pushed the Doctor aside, and swung the lid back into place. "We can't go after him," he panted.

"We've got to go back down!" the Doctor argued.

Rose could hardly believe what Solomon had just done to Frank. "We can't just leave him!" she exclaimed.

"No," said Solomon firmly, rounding on her. "I'm not losing anybody else! Those creatures were from hell! From hell itself! If we go after them, they'll take us all! There's nothing we can do. I'm sorry."

Just then, a new voice sounded from behind Rose.

"All right then. Put 'em up."

Rose turned to see the barrel of a gun. She noticed Martha raising her hands, and decided she should do the same.

The woman holding the gun cocked it, and looked over Rose's shoulder, presumably at the Doctor and Solomon. "Hands in the air and no funny business," she commanded.

Apparently satisfied with her captives' compliance, she leaned back against a table.

"Now tell me you schmucks, what've you done with Lazlo?" she asked.

That was unexpected, thought Rose.

Martha spoke up first. "Uh, who's Lazlo?" she asked.

"Lazlo's my boyfriend, or was my boyfriend until two weeks ago," the woman explained. "No letter, no good-bye, no nothin'. And I'm not stupid." She was waving the gun animatedly as she spoke, causing Rose to take a nervous step backwards. "I know some guys are just pigs," she went on, "but not my Lazlo. I mean, what kinda guy asks you to meet his mother before he vamooses?"

"It might," suggested the Doctor, moving hesitantly closer to Rose, "might just help if you put that down," he said, gesturing towards the gun.

"Huh?" the woman asked, then looked at the gun as if only just realizing she was holding it. "Oh, sure," she said, then tossed it carelessly onto a chair. Rose shrank back, feeling the Doctor's hand close around her own, but the woman dismissed the weapon. "Oh, c'mon. It's not real. It's just a prop. It was either that or a spear."

Rose breathed a sigh of relief and asked the woman, "What do you think happened to Lazlo?"

"I wish I knew," she answered. "One minute he's there, the next, zip--vanished."

Just like the people in Hooverville, Rose thought.

"Listen, ah--what's your name?" the Doctor asked.

"Tallulah," she answered.

"Tallulah," the Doctor repeated.

"Three 'L's and an 'H'," Tallulah supplied.

"Right," said the Doctor. "Um, we can try to find Lazlo, but he's not the only one. There are people disappearing every night."

"And there are creatures," said Solomon, a shudder evident in his voice. "Such creatures."

"Whaddaya mean, 'creatures'?" Tallulah asked.

"Look," the Doctor told her. "Listen, just trust me. Everyone is in danger. I need to find out exactly what this is," he said, letting go of Rose's hand to pull the alien blob from his pocket, "because then I'll know exactly what we're fighting."

Tallulah took one glance at the green, gloopy thing, then gave an appropriate "Yech!" at the sight and smell of the object.

--

Martha and Rose decided to go with Tallulah to her dressing room to see if they could find out more about Lazlo's disappearance, while the Doctor and Solomon stayed behind in the theater's props room where they'd first arrived, hoping to find what the Doctor needed to analyze the blob.

Martha watched Rose move around the dressing room, while Tallulah worked on her makeup for the performance.

"Lazlo," Tallulah was reminiscing. "He'd wait for me after the show, walk me home like I was a lady. He'd leave a flower for me on my dressing table. Every day, just a single rosebud."

"Did you report him missing?" asked Rose.

"Sure," said Tallulah. "He's just a stagehand. Who cares? The management certainly don't."

Martha hated this. It was the same hopeless class system they'd seen in Hooverville. "Can't you kick up a fuss or somethin'?" she asked.

"Okay, so then they fire me," said Tallulah.

"But they'd listen to you," Martha argued. "You're one of the stars."

**'**Oh, honey," Tallulah told her with a sympathetic smile. "I got one song in a back street revue, and that's only because Heidi Chicane broke her ankle--which had nothin' to do with me, whatever anybody says. I can't afford to make a fuss. If I don't make this month's rent, then before you know it, I'm in Hooverville."

"Okay, I get it," Martha acknowledged.

"It's the Depression, ladies," Tallulah announced in a seemingly contradictory, cheery voice as she finished with her makeup. "Your heart might break, but the show goes on. And if it stops, you starve," she added, getting to her feet.

Rose had stopped her pacing, and moved to lean on a chair next to Martha.

"Every night I have to go out there," Tallulah continued, "sing, dance, keep goin'. Hoping he's gonna come back--" she choked back a sob, then broke down.

Martha moved to hug her, and Rose laid a hand on her shoulder. They both muttered an "I'm sorry."

After only a moment, Tallulah pulled back, and wiped at her eyes. She sniffed a bit, and then winked at Rose, lightening the mood. "Hey, you're lucky, though," she told her. "You got yourself a forward thinking hubby with that hot potato in the sharp suit."

Martha bit back a laugh as Rose stuttered out, "Uh, he's not--we're not . . . married."

Martha did allow herself a smirk when Tallulah quite obviously stared at Rose's ring finger, and the wedding band that still adorned it.

Rose awkwardly stuffed her hand in her jeans pocket, and made for the door. "I'm just gonna go see what he's up to," she said, and quickly exited.

"What's up with that, huh?" Tallulah asked, shrugging into her angel wings.

Martha finally laughed. "Let's just say, they both want it, but he hasn't gotten up the nerve to ask yet," she told her.

"Well, then at least there's hope for 'em," Tallulah said. "Ya gotta live in hope. It's the only thing that's kept me going 'cause," she lifted a single, white rose from her dressing table, "look. On my dressing table, every day still."

Martha took the rose. "You think it's Lazlo?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. If he's still around, why's he bein' all secret, like he doesn't want me to see him?"

--

"Doctor?" Rose called, as she stepped carefully through what he'd turned into a makeshift laboratory. She followed his grunt (sounding suspiciously like he had the sonic screwdriver between his teeth), and found him hunched over where he'd hooked the blob up to some sort of makeshift scanner. "Where's Solomon?" she asked, once she'd reached him.

"He's gone back to Hooverville to try and organize some sort of resistance," he told her. "Don't know how much good that'll do . . ." he added, adjusting one of the stage lights.

Rose took the opportunity to sneak a glance at his left hand, smiling as she verified that he, too, was still wearing his ring.

He focused the beam on the blob. "That's it. Let's warm you up," he muttered, then put his glasses on to examine the blob more closely.

"Doctor--" Rose began, "well, thanks," she said, simply.

"What for?" the Doctor asked, sparing her a quick glance.

"For back in the tunnel," she explained. "For not tryin' to send me away." You really don't know how much that meant, she thought.

He looked up at her, seemingly stunned. "I--it didn't really occur to me."

Rose just smiled, and bent to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Exactly," she said.

--

To be continued.


	3. Daleks? In Manhattan?

Thank you ever so much for your patience. We've been dodging hurricanes in this neck of the woods, but things have settled a bit for now. Anyway, on with the story!

Oh, and you can thank Lady Clark-Weasley of Books for pestering me into posting ;)

--

Chapter 3, Daleks? In Manhattan?

The first strains of music floated up from the stage to the balcony where Rose sat watching the Doctor work. She handed him a half-dismantled spotlight when he gestured wildly for it, and shook her head as he combined the components with the growing technological monstrosity he was using to analyze the blob.

"This is artificial," he muttered. "Genetically engineered. Whoever this is, oh, you're clever," he said to himself, focused intently on fine-tuning the device.

"High praise," said Rose, "coming from Mister Clever himself."

He spared her a quick glance, eyes smiling over the rim of his glasses, before returning to his work.

Rose heard a voice singing, and moved to the railing, looking down to see Tallulah on stage in her angel costume. She kept half an eye on the Doctor while she took in the beginning of the song and dance number. When he began muttering agian, she walked back to the Doctor's side.

"Fundamental DNA type 467-989," he said, listening to the blob through his stethoscope. "989," he repeated, thinking. "Hold on, that means planet of origin . . . ." He looked up at Rose with a mixed look of disbelief and horror. "Skaro," he breathed.

"Skaro," Rose said. It took her only a moment to place the name. "Not--not like the _Cult_ of Skaro," she pleaded.

"Exactly like," the Doctor confirmed, then leapt up and took her hand, leading her out of the balcony.

"Daleks? Here?" Rose asked, as they ran down the staircase. "Now?"

"Persistent little buggers, don't you think?" he asked rhetorically. "Where'd you leave Martha?"

"With Tallulah, in her dressing room," Rose told him.

They made their way backstage, finding Tallulah huddled in the corridor, surrounded by the other chorus girls.

"Tallulah," Rose called out as they approached, "where's Martha?"

"I don't know. She ran off the stage," she answered.

"What was she doing on the stage?" asked the Doctor, but never got an answer. A scream sounded from the direction of the prop room.

"That's her!" shouted Rose, and they were off again, this time followed by Tallulah.

They burst into the props room, but all was dark and seemingly undisturbed. "Martha?" called the Doctor.

"Martha, you in here?" Rose asked into the darkness.

"The sewer," said the Doctor simply, reaching for the overcoat he'd left draped over some random props.

Resignedly, Rose heaved the lid to the tunnel open.

"Oh, where are you goin'?!" Tallulah demanded.

"They've taken her," the Doctor answered.

"Who's taken her?" Tallulah asked.

Rose answered, while the Doctor began to climb down the ladder into the sewers below. "The bad guys," she said.

"An' just what're ya doin'?" Tallulah asked, as Rose followed him down.

"Goin' to find her," Rose answered, climbing down into the even deeper darkness.

The Doctor helped Rose to gain her footing on the slippery floor, and then looked up, over her shoulder. "No, no, no, no, no way. You're not coming," he said.

Rose was just getting an _Oh yes I am_ comeback ready, when Tallulah's voice replied. "Tell me what's going on," she insisted, climbing down the ladder, her stage costume clearly visible beneath the coat she'd hastily thrown on.

"There's nothing you can do," the Doctor argued with her. "Go back."

Tallulah resolutely stepped off the ladder. "Look, whoever's taken Martha, they could've taken Lazlo, couldn't they?" she asked.

Rose felt a quick stab of sympathy, but still, the Doctor had a point. "Tallulah, you're not safe down here," Rose told her.

"Then that's my problem," she answered, stubbornly. "Come on. Which way?" she asked, and immediately started off in what Rose assumed was a random direction.

Rose could see the Doctor's resolve melt as he sighed.

"This way," he called to Tallulah, leading Rose down another branch of the tunnel. Rose couldn't tell what the Doctor was following, but he seemed sure of his route.

It was a few moments before Tallulah spoke again. "When you say 'They've taken her'," she began, "who's 'they', exactly? And who are you anyway? I never asked."

Rose laughed to herself. "Stuff of legends, right?" she said, with a playful nudge at the Doctor's side.

"Shh," was all he said in reply.

Rose had felt him tense as his pace slowed, but Tallulah didn't seem to sense the danger.

"Okay, okay," she said, loudly.

"Shh, shh, shh," the Doctor said more emphatically, guiding Rose and Tallulah quickly back into a recess of the tunnel.

Rose watched, half-disbelieving, as a Dalek glided past where they had just been standing.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no," said the Doctor, quietly, once they had moved out of earshot. "They survived."

"But how?" asked Rose.

"How do they ever?" he replied.

"That metal thing?" Tallulah asked. "What was it?"

"They're called Daleks," Rose told her. "They're not just 'things'; they're alive."

Tallulah laughed. "You're kidding me."

"Does it look like we're kidding?" the Doctor asked sharply, and she immediately sobered. "Inside that shell is a creature born to hate, whose only thought is to destroy everything and everyone that isn't a Dalek, too."

Rose was certain that, like her, he was recalling every single time he'd met with them in the past.

"It won't stop until it's killed every human being alive," he added.

"But if it's not a human being," reasoned Tallulah, "that kinda implies it's from outer space."

Rose and the Doctor looked at each other, then at Tallulah. She seemed to get the message.

"Yet again, that's a 'no' with the kidding. Boy . . . . Well, what's it doin' here, in New York?" she asked them.

"That's what we're tryin' to find out," Rose answered.

"Us, but not you," the Doctor told Tallulah, taking her by the arm, and leading her back towards the theater entrance. "Every second you're down here, you're in danger. I'm taking you back right now."

As the Doctor guided her around a corner, Rose could tell Tallulah wanted to argue.

What she didn't expect was for her to scream.

--

To be continued.

That's almost a cliff-hanger ending, isn't it? If you haven't seen the episode, that is.


	4. Preliminary Experiments

Chapter 4, Preliminary Experiments

Rose jogged around the corner, trying to find out what had startled Tallulah so badly. Ahead, cowering in the shadows, she could just make out another pig-man. Rose put a comforting hand on Tallulah's arm as the Doctor stepped towards the figure.

"Where's Martha? What have you done with her?" he demanded. "What have you done with Martha?!"

"I didn't take her," the pig-man answered, quite clearly.

Rose glanced at the Doctor. It seemed he was just as surprised as she was to be answered in more than squeaks and whines. They took a few tentative steps towards him, as the Doctor asked more gently, "Can you remember your name?"

But the pig-man moved even deeper into the shadows. "Don't look at me," he begged.

Tallulah stepped towards him, away from Rose. "Do you know where she is?" she asked.

The pig-man turned towards the tunnel wall, seemingly panicked. "Stay back! Don't look at me!" he yelled.

Rose stepped forward to put a restraining hand on Tallulah's shoulder. "It's alright," she told the pig-man, comfortingly. "We're not gonna hurt you." From closer up, it was clear there was something different about this one; he seemed to be more man than pig.

The Doctor squatted down, still keeping a respectful distance from the frightened pig-man. "What happened to you?" he asked.

"They made me a monster," he replied, despondently.

"Who did?" Rose asked.

"The masters," he answered her.

"The Daleks," clarified the Doctor. "Why?"

"They needed slaves. They needed slaves to steal more people so they created us. Part animal, part human. I escaped before they got my mind, but it was still too late."

"Do you know what happened to Martha?" asked Rose.

"They took her," he answered. "It's my fault. She was following me."

"Were you in the theater?" Tallulah asked.

"Yes," he admitted. Then, more quietly, "I never wanted you to see me like this."

"Why me?" asked Tallulah. "What do I gotta do with this? Were you following me? Is that why you were there?"

Rose tightened her grip on Tallulah's shoulder. "Easy," she said, quietly.

"I needed to see you," the pig-man told her.

Rose felt her shudder as Tallulah asked, "Who are you?" Rose was starting to guess, and she didn't like her guess one bit.

"I'm sorry," the pig-man said in answer, turning away from them.

Tallulah pulled away from Rose, moving towards the pig-man. "No, wait," she said gently, grabbing his arm, and pulling him into the light. "Let me look at you . . . Lazlo?"

He nodded.

"My Lazlo?" she asked, her voice breaking. "Oh, what have they done to you?"

"I'm sorry," he said, hardly meeting her eyes."So sorry."

"Lazlo," the Doctor asked after a moment, "can you show us where they are?"

He looked away from Tallulah, obviously shocked. "They'll kill you," he told the Doctor.

"If we don't stop them, they'll kill everyone," the Doctor answered.

Lazlo looked around at all of them. "Then follow me," he said, turning and leading them down the tunnel.

Tallulah stood rooted to the spot, until Rose touched her arm. She jumped, as if stung.

"You alright?" Rose asked her, sensing the ridiculousness of her own question the moment the words left her lips.

Tallulah just shrugged and gave a half-hearted laugh, but let herself be led down the tunnel.

--

Rose could hear human voices coming from just ahead. It wasn't long before Lazlo signaled for them to walk carefully, as they approached a junction. Moving quietly up to where she could see, Rose was relieved to hear Martha's voice.

"--Nasty feeling that we're being kept in the larder. Still, we can find out what's going on down here," she heard her saying.

Martha and about a dozen others were waiting in a section of the tunnel, surrounded by pig-men guards. To Rose's additional relief, she recognized Frank standing right next to Martha. He was still alive, after all!

The pig-men started squealing, as a Dalek glided into view. Lazlo backed away, but Rose and the Doctor inched closer.

"Si-lence. Si-lence," ordered the Dalek. "You will form a line. Move."

As the pig-men pushed the prisoners into line, Martha spoke up. "Just do what it says, everyone, okay? Just obey."

"The fe-male is wise," observed the Dalek. "O-bey!"

A second Dalek arrived, demanding a report.

"These are strong spec-i-mens," replied the first Dalek. "They will help the Da-lek cause. What is the sta-tus of the Fi-nal Ex-per-i-ment?" it asked.

"The Da-lek-an-i-um is in place. The en-er-gy con-duct-or is now com-plete," the second Dalek answered.

"Then I will ex-tract pris-on-ers for sel-ec-tion," replied the first Dalek.

Rose mouthed, "selection?" at the Doctor, but at his slight shake of the head turned back to the prisoners. She watched with her breath held as the Dalek extended its sucker towards one prisoner after another, apparently scanning them.

Lazlo spoke up, quietly, from behind her. "They're divided into two groups: high intelligence and low intelligence. The low intelligence are taken to become pig-slaves, like me."

"What about the others?" Rose asked him.

"They're taken to the laboratory," he answered.

"But why?" asked the Doctor. "What for?"

Frank and Martha had just been scanned and separated into the _superior intelligence_ group.

"I don't know," said Lazlo. "The masters only call it the Final Experiment."

The first Dalek completed his scans. "Pris-on-ers of high in-tell-i-gence will be ta-ken to the trans-gen-ic lab-or-a-to-ry to be-come part of the Fi-nal Ex-per-i-ment," it ordered, confirming what Lazlo had just told them.

Martha was indignant, shouting at the Dalek as the pig-men began ushering them away. "You can't just experiment on people! It's insane! It's inhuman!"

"We are not hu-man," the Dalek replied, coldly.

"Look out," the Doctor whispered, flattening himself against the wall as the prisoners were marched past the junction.

Lazlo took Tallulah by the hand, and headed back down the tunnel. "Doctor, Rose, quickly!" he whispered harshly at them.

"I'm not going; you go," the Doctor answered, staring at the passing prisoners. He turned to Rose. "I've got an idea," he whispered to her.

Lazlo was hesitating. Tallulah tugged on his arm. "Lazlo, c'mon!"

To Rose's surprise, he asked Tallulah, "Can you remember the way?"

"Yeah, I think so," she told him.

"Then go. Please," he said.

"But Lazlo," she pleaded, "you gotta come with me."

"Where would I go?" he asked her, and Rose saw the argument die on her tongue. "Tallulah, I'm beggin' you, save yourself. Just run. Just go. Go," he begged.

Rose watched her turn and run back up the tunnel on her own, as Lazlo returned to the Doctor's side. They watched as a Dalek passed by the junction between the two groups of prisoners. Then, at a nod from the Doctor, Rose fell in line behind Frank, the Doctor behind Martha, and Lazlo at the back with the guards.

"Just keep walking," the Doctor told the prisoners, quietly.

"I'm so glad to see you," Rose heard Martha gasp.

"Yeah, well, you can kiss me later," he answered. Rose couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that. "You too, Frank, if you want," he added, and she found herself stifling a laugh.

**--**

As they entered the lab, Rose felt her breath catch. There they were, all four of the cult of Skaro. All they were missing was the Genesis Ark.

The Dalek who had escorted them through the tunnels approached one of the others. "Re-port," it ordered.

"Da-lek Sec is in the fi-nal stage of e-vo-lu-tion," came the reply.

"Scan him. Pre-pare for birth," ordered the first Dalek.

"Evolution?" breathed the Doctor, quietly.

"What's wrong with old Charlie boy over there?," Martha asked. The Dalek, Rose assumed it was Sec, looked like a teakettle set to boil.

"Ask them," the Doctor told her.

"What me?" asked Martha. "Don't be daft."

"I don't exactly want to get noticed," he told her.

"We'd both be recognized," Rose supplied. "Just ask 'em what's goin' on."

After a steadying breath, Martha stepped out of line. "Daleks," she said loudly, "I demand to be told. What is this Final Experiment?" The Daleks turned towards her, but made no reply. "Report!" she ordered.

To Rose's relief, the first Dalek answered. "You will bear wit-ness," it said.

"To what?" Martha asked.

"This is the dawn of a new age," it said, unhelpfully.

"What does that mean? she asked.

"We are the on-ly four Da-leks, so the spe-cies must e-volve a life out-side the shell," it explained, gliding towards her. "The Chil-dren of Ska-ro must walk a-gain."

Rose moved closer to the Doctor. It was plain on his face that he didn't like the implications of this any more than she did.

The Daleks' attention returned to Sec, as its casing began to slide open.

Out of the shell stepped a strange mixture of Dalek and humanoid. The body was clad in a suit that reminded Rose of the man who had been recruiting in Hooverville. But the flesh was obviously some form of Dalek. Its head had a single eye, and tentacles that fell to its shoulders. Its hands were almost claw-like

"What is it?" asked Martha, aloud.

Sec, or what used to be Sec, answered slowly, "I am a human Dalek. I am your future."

--

The end. . . for now. To be continued in "Evolution of the Daleks".

P.S.--A whole lot more script divergence to come in the next part.


End file.
